Well campers, we're back from our yearly trip into the Appalachian Mountains to work on homes. This year we went to Tennessee to a little town that had a population of 600 (maybe less depending on the age of the signs). The jobs moved out of this town and the surrounding towns, so there is very high employment. The poverty rate there is hugh. Ya see Tennessee is probably one of the worst places for poverty, because it is practically hidden from view. You dont see the poverty on the main roads like you do most other places. Somehow the impoverished are off the beaten path, but yet the path is actually very beaten just because of the numbers of people in bad situations. Most folks would never know it because you cant see it from the bigger roads.
We spent the week with folks from church working on various homes in east tennessee, and built relationships that helped people in more ways than just keeping them dryer, warmer, and safer. We made friends up there in the hills of tennessee. It's amazing watching the youth and adults from three churches go out and love on people. This year we had 2 NC churches and a Church from Texas on the trip. The organization is known as ASP or Appalachian Service Project. This organization uses college aged young adults to run centers all through the Appalachian Mountians. I love ASP! They tend to be very good stewards of the resources that God gives them.
This year the man my team served was in his lower 60s and had pushed God away years ago. But you see that was all in God's plan. Our group was the least talented in construction, but hey....that's why we considered ourselves the Evangelist Team! The man we worked for needed to hear the message God had given us. He kept saying he wished he could pay us. Through the week he did keep us well equiped with gum. It doesnt seem like much but that was what he could give and he saw it make us happy when he gave it to us. He would go from person to person distributing the gum (he went to the girls first but then again can you blame him). To see God work in just simple ways was so miraculous. The ASP staff has a picinic every week for the folks we help and our man didnt go the first week. Well, he went this past week! You see God put some special folks in the element He had trained them for last week. There were two teams side by side working (the 2 sites were literally side by side), and I think everyone invited our guy to the picinic. The last time he said I wish I could pay, I told him he could pay me by going with us to the picinic. On our last day we took our new friend out to eat at a local joint, and the lady there knew who we were, and who we were working for. As Volunteers we try to be as discrete as possible even to the point of giving code names to the locations where we work. But this lady made a comment about how our friend enjoyed drinking more than anything. That really wasnt new news to me, but like I said, God had this team where He did for a good reason. Before we left the burger joint I told the lady how I had asked my friend about this place and that he only had great things to say about the food and the people that owned it. This lady then looked down toward the floor (kinda in conviction), and then looked up in a small smile and said,"I've known him all my life".
If you go through my little story and pick through it, you'll see little moments where God spoke. If you werent looking for it you'd miss it. I have come to look for times when God speaks to me regardless of the size of the voice He uses. Thank you Lord! I encourage everyone to check out ASP (Appalachian Service Project) it is a mission that is worth doing. If you cant go this year find something that you can do this year, and plan now for next year. Sometimes the small things like giving out sticks of gum just mean so much!
God Be with You!
~Lee
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